In a press release today, Mayor Pedro Segarra says that means layoffs are likely. The release is below.

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MAYOR SEGARRA ANTICIPATES CITY-SIDE LAYOFFS IN

ACCORDANCE WITH ADOPTED BUDGET

$1 Million Dollars in Employee Concessions Part of FY 12-13 Consensus Budget

— NEWS AND COMMUNITY STATEMENT—

(August 31, 2012) – Mayor Pedro E. Segarra announced today that there will likely be no less than 12 city-side layoffs in order to meet his obligation pursuant to the City Charter and the Fiscal Year 2012-2013 budget that was unanimously adopted by City Council in May.

Additionally, the Mayor indicated that all non-unionized classified and unclassified city-side employees, including Police, Fire Command Staffs and non-sworn personnel, who make more than $45,000 per year would be required to take furlough days. A majority of layoffs would come from middle-management ranks and the average per employee savings will be approximately $80,000, including fringe benefits.

“To contemplate layoffs is very difficult for me. I do not like – nor do I want – to lay any one off, but I have an obligation to every taxpayer to meet a balanced budget and I intend to do just that. I want to remind everyone that we faced a more than $50 million dollar deficit in FY 12-13, more than $30 million was a result of revaluation, and working collaboratively with Council, we closed that gap and reduced overall spending by more than $7 million dollars. At this time I anticipate a large majority of the layoffs would come from the mid-management ranks as is consistent with my philosophy of continually looking at ways to minimize bureaucratic red-tape and increase efficiency and accountability among front-line staff,” said Mayor Segarra.

In addition to layoffs, the Mayor announced that 2 positions in the Office of the Chief Operating Officer will be eliminated from the budget.

While the schedule is subject to change, it is expected that those being laid off will be notified on September 21, 2012 and their last day of work will be October 7, 2012.

The Mayor’s Office will have no additional comment on this matter until the third week of September.